Sudan security confiscates print run El Tayar

The National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) confiscated the print run of El Tayar daily newspaper on Saturday. El Tayyar had reported that Mustafa Osman Ismail, the ruling National Congress Party’s Secretary of Political Relations and Minister of Investment, had left for Egypt angrily because of the stalled national dialogue process, journalists of the newspaper said. The newspaper was suspended in June 2012 for publishing a series of investigative articles on alleged corruption within Sudan’s National Cotton Corporation. It was only allowed to resume publication last month. The NISS recently intensified its crackdown on the Sudanese press, accusing them of crossing the red lines through publishing reports which adversely impact the national security. On 19 May, the Sudanese presidency delivered a firm warning to media outlets on its coverage of items that “pose a danger to national security and the country as a whole”. On Friday, the Sudanese police detained journalist Aisha El Samani of the English language daily The Citizen, among political activists in En Nahud in West Kordofan. El Jareeda journalist Hassan Ishag was detained by security forces in En Nahud on 10 June. Last week, the NISS confiscated print runs of El Taghyeer, El Intibaha, and El Akhbar newspapers. El Taghyeer was informed that it is not allowed to resume publication unless it receives permission from the NISS. According to journalists at El Taghyeer, the newspaper was suspended for its coverage of a press conference held by the UN independent expert on the human rights situation in Sudan, Mashood Baderin, besides publishing a tribute to rebel leader Ali Karbino, who was recently killed in North Darfur, written by the chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (an alliance of armed movements) Malik Agar. (Source: Sudan Tribune) File photo: Front page of El Tayyar, 11 December 2011 (Sudan Tribune) Related: Media network urges release of Sudanese journalist (3 July 2014) Journalists protest new newspaper seizures in Sudan (3 July 2014) En Nahud detainees transferred, newspapers seized in Sudan (1 July 2014) Sudan’s journalists rally for press freedom in Khartoum (26 June 2014) Press ‘warned’ in Sudan (21 May 2014)